{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.blackburn.senate.gov/2025/10/technology/blackburn-to-cnbc-big-tech-s-opposition-must-not-stand-in-the-way-of-federal-legislation-to-govern-the-virtual-space", "Blackburn to CNBC: Big Tech\u2019s Opposition Must Not Stand in the Way of Federal Legislation to Govern the Virtual Space", "2025-10-16", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "TN", "Marsha Blackburn", "B001243", "www.blackburn.senate.gov", "blackburn", "https://www.blackburn.senate.gov/news/cc8c80c1-d564-4bbb-93a4-f1d772346ae0", "scraper", "NASHVILLE, Tenn. \u2013 U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) virtually joined CNBC\u2019s 2025 AI summit in Nashville for a wide-ranging discussion on the growing momentum to pass her bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act, her legislative efforts to mitigate the unintended harms and abuse of artificial intelligence, and her work to protect consumers\u2019 data and privacy online.\n\nClick here to download Senator Blackburn\u2019s interview with CNBC\u2019s Julia Boorstin at the 2025 AI Summit.\n\nU.S. federal AI regulation is on the way, Sen. Marsha Blackburn says, regardless of big tech opposition\n\nIan Thomas\n\nCNBC\n\nAs U.S. states start to react to growing constituent concerns around the risks associated with artificial intelligence use, Tennessee Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn said moving forward with a federal preemption standard is \u201cimperative.\u201d\n\n\u2026\n\n\u201cThe reason the states have stepped in, whether it\u2019s to protect consumers or protect children, is because the federal government has, to date, not been able to pass any federal preemptive legislation... We have to have the states standing in the gap until such time that Congress will say no to the big tech platforms.\u201d\n\nBlackburn has long been a proponent of legislation around children\u2019s online safety and regulation of social media, introducing the Kids Online Safety Act in 2022 that aims to establish guidelines to protect minors from harmful material on the platforms. The bipartisan legislation has passed the Senate with an overwhelming majority, and Blackburn said while big tech companies have worked to hold up the legislation from passage in both chambers, \u201cWe are hopeful the House is going to take it up and pass it.\u201d\n\nThe concerns that the Act was aimed to address as it relates to social media have now cascaded alongside the rise in AI, Blackburn said.\n\n\u201cOne of the things we\u2019ve heard from so many people involved in this is that you have to have an online consumer privacy protection bill so that people have the ability to set those firewalls and protect the virtual you, as I call it,\u201d she said, adding that \u201conce an LLM scoops [your data and information], then they are using that to train that model.\u201d\n\nBlackburn is also focused on several other ways of safeguarding the information that AI is using, including a bill focused on how AI can use your name, image or likeness without your consent.\n\n\u201cWe have to have a way to protect our information in the virtual spaces just as we do in the physical space,\u201d she said.\n\nWith the fast advancement of AI, Blackburn acknowledged that regulation would require a focus on \u201cend-use utilizations and legislate that framework in that manner and not focus on a given delivery system or a given technology.\u201d\n\nThat also means reacting to the ways that AI companies change their products. Earlier this week, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the company will be able to \u201csafely relax\u201d most restrictions now that it has been able to mitigate \u201cserious mental health issues,\u201d adding that the company is \u201cnot the elected moral police of the world.\u201d\n\nBlackburn said that legislators are increasingly hearing from \u201cparents who know what is happening to their children and that they can\u2019t un-experience or unsee something that they have been through with these chatbots or in the virtual world or the metaverse.\u201d\n\n\u201cI have talked to so many people who are now saying kids are not going to get cell phones until they\u2019re 16, and many parents believe that is just like driving a car,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re not going to allow their kids to have that because we as a society have to put rules and laws in place that protect children and minors.\u201d\n\nRELATED\n\nICYMI in Punchbowl News: Blackburn Says Meta\u2019s Instagram Teen Accounts Announcement Is \u2018Nothing More Than a PR Stunt\u2019\n\nVIDEO: Blackburn Eviscerates Meta for Suppressing Child Safety Research Following Whistleblower Allegations\n\nVIDEO: Blackburn Leads Effort to Remove AI Moratorium from Big Beautiful Bill, Protecting Tennessee Creators & Kids from Harm\n\nBlackburn, Blumenthal, Thune, and Schumer Introduce the Kids Online Safety Act", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.blackburn.senate.gov/2025/10/technology/blackburn-to-cnbc-big-tech-s-opposition-must-not-stand-in-the-way-of-federal-legislation-to-govern-the-virtual-space"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.9345220644026995, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}